ninnanuam

Novels only, no particular order:

The Long Dark Tea Time Of the Soul, Douglas Adams (everything by Adam's is great but I like this the most, I probably read it during an impressionable period)

Good Omens, Pratchett/Gaiman, for personal reasons

After that it's all the same nothing stands out:

Catch 22, Hi fidelity, LOTR, Snow Crash..

Non fiction:

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72, Thompson

A brief History of Nearly Everything, Bryson

Charlie Browns encyclopedia set, They are the first thing I remember reading.

Planetside

Fallout New Vegas

Super Street Fighter 2

*extra bonus Saints row 2

I have this problem with specific games, GTA 4 springs to mind as does lollipop chainsaw and Mass effect 3

I don't really like blizzard games, I feel as if they lack soul. For example Wow was dull and uninspired even for its time. But their games as pure product are objectively "great".

Its like the guys there are scientists working on achieving maximum addictive game play loops and they really don't seem to give a shit about anything else. It's cool if you dig playing a game for the the probability of getting a virtual pellet every 6 to ten clicks on a mouse button, but that's really not for me.

That being said the lost vikings was dope, as was WC2 and to a lesser degree SC.

I was just reading another site and there was a thread about collectors editions and I wanted to ask you guys what you thought about Collectors editions.

I personally don't really like them, I don't like the toys and the big boxes take up some significant space and don't look good on the shelf as display pieces as they don't generally match. However I do like in game items and will generally fork out for the collectors edition of a game if there are exclusive items.

The only collectors edition I've bought where the stuff was any good was GTA4 I still use the lock box and bag.

My friend on the other hand works FIFO and has far too much money he seems to buy every collectors item that he finds. because he works away I pick up his packages. Ive told him its mostly worthless junk but he still continues to buy it on the basis that he thinks it might be worth money in the future...or something.

So are collectors editions and collectables actually cool or are they a total scam.

I have Wednesday's off work which is really the only time i get to play games uninterupted, so if a game catches my attention i play until my girlfriend gets home from work, so like 8 to 10 hours, only stopping to go to the toilet and make food (but I can see my TV from my kitchen so I can continue to play). The last game that caught me like that was was Skyrim.

The longest ever would be a toss up between Shadowbane and Planetside. Both were MMO's that came out in spring 2003. With both of those games I'm pretty sure I played for at least two days straight a few times apart from toilet breaks and raiding the fridge/pantry for leftovers or ordering pizza during loading screens or awaiting transport.

It helped in those time I was living in a shared house and everybody living there was into games. We would try pretty much any MMO that came out. But Planetside is the one that really hooked us.

It would have been almost impossible to sleep anyway with all the noise from my housemates.

Ive been messing around with SSIVAE and SFXT and SCV in single player and online recently and I think my primary issue with all of those games (especially SCV, mainly due to the abundance of extras in previous games) is that the single player portions are totally shallow, offer no replayability and provide little help to the player in transitioning to online play. without any of these, the games don't end up being worth full price and customers will quickly stop buying these products. I know i'm not picking up another bare bones fighter.

Essentially I think a fighting game needs to have either a very robust suite of single player modes a la MK9 or SC 2 or SC3 (does anyone remember that RPG shit, i put like 20 hours into that.) so customers who have no interest in being destroyed online can still get some value out of their products. Or have comprehensive and FUN (emphasis on the fun) training modes and better AI which simulates actual online conditions.

Better matchmaking and less lag would also be awesome.

Maybe I sound like an asshole but I feel when it comes to video games, Kickstarter is a way for incredibly rich businessmen to make a product with no risk and make total bank. All they need to do is trade on nerd nostalgia.

This is the perfect case in point, I like Jordan, but the guy is pretty fucking wealthy, if he wanted to make a Shadowrun game like the old ones he could have put up 400K himself at any point over at least the last 10 years, but he didn't. It looks like he didn't even think of it until the whole doublefine/wasteland/kickstarter 0 risk option appeared.

That being said ill still be putting down at at least enough to get a copy of the game, because I love Shadowrun.

@Alkaiser said:

There shouldn't be a collector's market for games. If someone wants to play, say, Earthbound on the SNES they should be able to play it for a reasonable price. In an age of digital downloading rarity shouldn't even be a factor. You shouldn't have to pay 200$ for a copy of Suikoden 2.

easily purchasable copies doesn't negate the collectablity, In my example i said that a used copy of The Great Gatsby first printing is available for $1000+ but you can still but a new sub $10.00 copy the cheaper version does not diminish the older versions worth just as DLC does not necessarily diminish and old games worth. But making used a game unplayable would make that copy worthless (an unreadable first edition of the great gatsby would be considered to be in very poor condition and would be worthless). we could discuss the reason older things/original copies retain value even when cheap alternatives abound but we would be getting off topic.

@Tennmuerti said:

@ninnanuam:

1. Yeah this sucks. Which is why i don't buy EA console titles that depend on their servers, but Steam made us all a promise that if it goes down, they will push DRM free patches. Their userbase will crucify them if they won't, with every person having invested thousands. (i know i'll buy a plane tiket and bring a torch, not an empty jest)
2. Answer is services like GoG, check it out read up on it. All old technology is ultimately not unfalable. Do most people complain now that they can't easilly just play a SNES game on a whim, some people can but fact is most of us who owned old systems can't just play whatever game we want on them if at all. Digital Distribution has nothing if not eased our access to playing older games on newer systems, both PC wise and console.
3. No one is banning used sales.

Im not trying to be an asshole but for your first point, you think all companies are going to be like Valve? Steam is the exception and not the rule. In addition I wonder how well that contract (i assume its a binding contact right?) would hold up in 20 years when Gabe has left and some total suit is in charge. Businesses change and most are more like EA than Valve.

what about the long term?

In response to your second point, yes DLC has made it easier to get older games I don't deny that, but there is a big difference in being able to get old games that I have to pay for again and playing something I have already purchased, and a hell of a lot of things are not available via DLC. I dont know about you but I still have access to my NES, SNES and Master System, and they all still work fine.I can play every mode in every game no problem, you know what a cant do? Play ANY of my original xbox games online. Because MS no longer supports the fucking system ...Its the canary in the coal mine.

Do you think that any DLC games you purchase on 720 will be transferable and playable on the 1440 (two gens away, and that's giving them some credit)? Or do you think console manufacturers will stop releasing new consoles. Or is more likely that they will try to get me to pay for the same content again, only this time they have the power to shut down my ability to play the original purchase and site some compatibility issue/or upgrade as the reason?

I can tell you right now that at every point in a new consoles life they will do an analysis of bad PR V.Profit and once they can get away with it they will shut old consoles down without a seconds thought. they and once you attach games to consoles or profiles and those systems die or services change good bye games. Single player or multiplayer it wont matter.

This doesn't even go into issues surrounding the inevitable decline of a big player, what happens when MS gets out of the game? or if you decided by pony up for Onlive? They never made Valve's promise, you lose everything.